Why Stretching May Not Make You More Flexible

“I’ve been stretching everyday for months, but my muscles still feel just as tight.” I hear this frequently from clients and friends. And you know what my response is?

STOP STRETCHING!

If you’ve been stretching regularly and not getting the results you want, it’s time to change your strategy. I’m not saying that stretching isn’t valuable, I’m saying if something isn’t creating the change you want to see, you need to do something different.

There’s a reason why your muscles ‘feel tight’ all the time AND, it may not be simply because your muscles lack length.

It may be a sign that your body has a different problem. In fact, you may need the opposite of stretching. You may need to get strong or more stable. Your body feeling tight is its innate ability to go into protection mode.

The nervous system is the master conductor determining how far you can stretch. Nerve endings are dispersed throughout the muscle and tendon, and if a stretch doesn’t feel safe for the muscle, those nerves will fire, registering pain and resistance. This is because the nervous system is going into protection mode. Often what your body and nervous system need to feel ‘loose’, is strength and stability.

Does this Describe you?

You are regularly stretching.

When you stretch it feels good for for a short period of time but then your muscles go right back to feeling tight.

If this is you, stop wasting time with stretching and get to the root cause of your problem.

The best way to do this?

Understand IF you actually need to stretch in the first place!

If you’re consistently stretching and you’re not getting the results you need, take a minute and apply for a physical therapy discovery visit with us in Bozeman, so that you can see what your best next step may be.